The Baker's Son
by motisizi54
Summary: My name is Peeta Mellark, and I want to tell you the story of how I met the love of my life. Her name is Katniss Everdeen, and she is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me.


**The First Days**

It was the first day of school. My mother had laid out an outfit for me last night before I went to bed. It was a pair of khaki pants and a nice polo shirt. I thought that I looked like a dork, but my father disagreed. He said I looked like "a handsome young boy." I packed my lunch, which was just a few things from the bakery, and my father and I headed out the door.

The school was a small building with a layer of coal dust coating the brick. My dad held my hand as we walked into the school yard. Many kids and parents were following behind us. That was when I first saw her.

She was wearing a red, plaid dress and her beautiful brown hair was in two braids. My father pointed her out to me as we were walking in.

He said to me, "See that little girl? I wanted to marry her mother, but she ran off with a coal miner."

I replied, "A coal miner? Why did she want a coal miner when she could have you?"

"Because when he sings... Even the birds stop to listen," my father responded.

When he said that, it seemed silly. Birds would never stop to listen to someone sing. But, now I know exactly what he meant. When Katniss volunteered to sing for us, I felt like the birds had stopped. My heart was skipping a beat every time a new note came out of her mouth, each one sounding more and more incredible to me than the last. I felt like I was in love.

That day at lunch, I rushed to find a seat next to her. But she seemed perfectly content sitting with only a few people, even if she wasn't talking at all. I would have rather been sitting next to her, staring into her gray eyes, but I settled on a table right across from her, so that I could still see her without her noticing.

I looked at her the whole lunch, and I barely touched my food.

Our teacher called us back into the class room and told us she was going to read a book to us. As soon as she began to read, I peaked over at Katniss. That was when she glanced over at me. My heart began pounding rapidly, and I blushed and tried to smile. I must have looked so stupid! She giggled a little, and turned her head. I was still looking at her, even though she wasn't looking back.

At the end of the day, when our teacher dismissed us, my father was waiting for me. I grabbed my coat and backpack off of the rack near the door, and walked towards him.

"Come on son!" my father said.

"Oh but Dad, hold on one tiny second! I have to see something before I leave!" I tried convincing my dad to let me stay.

Of course, that something that I wanted to see was Katniss. But she was no where in sight. Wasn't her mother waiting at school to pick her up? Did she already leave? I turned back towards my father with a sigh and ran into his open arms for a hug.

Later that evening, I began to tell my father about Katniss, the girl who's mother he had fallen in love with. I made sure to tell him every little detail of the day. From her singing, to my embarrassing moment in class. He smiled at me, and told me to keep trying. Because one day, I would have her. Soon, my brothers came in the room singing and taunting me.

"Peeta and Katniss, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

I really didn't mind though, I would've loved to sit in a tree with Katniss. And kiss her too. I never knew that at the age of five, someone could love a girl as much as I loved her.

xxxxxxx

One morning, I was so close to Katniss, I could just lean over and touch her.

We were all seated in the cafeteria waiting to watch the 63rd annual Hunger Games. I'd never seen them before, and I was quite curious to find out what they were about. Little did I know the scary things the Capitol had in store for the 12 boys and 12 girls who were chosen to participate in them.

The first day of the Hunger Games that I saw was very gruesome. Everyone was running to a big, gold horn, called the Cornucopia. In the midst of it all, people were getting shot with arrows and stabbed. It was too much to handle for my five year old eyes, and I think all the other kids felt the same way.

Some kids turned away, and others began to cry. I looked over at Katniss, who was seated next to me, to see what she thought of these games. But she sat perfectly still, staring at the screen. She was carefully watching each person who was running towards the Cornucopia and grabbing weapons as fast as they could.

"_Katniss, doesn't this scare you? The Hunger Games aren't as good as I thought they would be..." I turned to her and said. _

"_Why would they scare me?" she replied._

"_It's all about killing people. There's so much blood!" I exclaimed._

"_I'm not scared of it because I've seen this kind of stuff. My dad sometimes takes me out hunting and he has to shoot the animals with a bow and arrow. At first I was scared, but now I'm used to it," Katniss told me. _

"_Huh. I guess working at a bakery won't do me much good if I ever get chosen for these things," I joked. _

_Katniss laughed, "Maybe not! But you never know!" _

Almost as quickly as it had started, my day dream had ended. If only I could actually muster up the courage to talk to Katniss. Why did it have to be so hard to do? Why couldn't I just turn to her right then and start a conversation with her? A part of me thought that it should have been easy, because she is just a girl.

But I know that's not true. She is not _just _a girl. She is so beautiful. The way she laughs gives me butterflies, and when she sings everyone comes to listen. Her hair is always either in one or two braids. Her olive skin, her gray eyes, and everything about her makes her unique. And all on the inside she is a strong, courageous girl of five years old.

I had only known her for a few days, but I felt like I had known her for my whole life. Hopefully I would know her for the rest of my life too, whether we ever talked or not.


End file.
